Who says that Nexus owners get to have all the fun? Yesterday an innocuous XDA thread claimed to have a beta version of an Android 7.0 build, ready and waiting for Huawei's dual-camera phone, the P9. Usually that sort of post when we're still weeks or months away from a full AOSP release of a new Android version is, to put it bluntly, bunk. But in this case, users who have flashed the ROM say that it's functional and apparently legitimate - Huawei's proprietary EMUI skin, marked as version 5, is running on top of Nougat. It's working on the EVA-L09 model; others may not be compatible.

The community over at XDA-Developers is a little less voracious these days. There are a lot of reasons: an ever-expanding selection of Android phones means it's harder to make a modding nexus for each one, general improvements in hardware and software make rooting less necessary, et cetera. But those tinkerers can still get some fantastic results. Case in point: it turns out that it's totally possible to get the unlocked HTC 10, currently being sold free of contracts and carriers from the HTC web store, to operate on Verizon.

The Team Win Recovery Project is a great custom recovery, but it isn't pretty. Back in the Ice Cream Sandwich days, it kind of blended in. Nowadays, it's just that outdated screen you largely don't care about while you flash .zips.

But what if TWRP could look just as sleek as the rest of Android 5.0? Thanks to the work of XDA developer z31s1g, it can get close. He has released a Materialized TWRP theme that changes the appearance of every screen, including when you're wiping partitions or running scripts. It comes in either a light or dark variant, and you can choose any of 15 colors.

Just yesterday, HTC announced that it would bring its new Eye Experience to existing One devices via a future update, and some people in Europe are already seeing the enhancements come to their devices. The goods are bundled up with Android 4.4.4, and they're bumping users up from version 2.22.401.5 to 3.28.401.6.

A full download is available over at the XDA Developers forum for anyone who wants to rush in and get their hands dirty. The OTA comes in at 252MB.

This video provides a look at the update and some of the new things introduced by the HTC Eye Experience.

Microsoft. Google. OnePlus. HTC. Fitbit. Ubuntu. The BBC. NPR. Jet Li. There are too many things called One. Add one (sorry) more thing to the list: the new official forum app for XDA-Developers. An alpha build of XDA One, the site's first in-house app, is available in APK form on this forum thread. The previous apps, XDA-Developers and XDA-Premium, will continue to be supported on the Play Store for the foreseeable future.

XDA is the biggest spot on the web for user discussion about phone modifications of all sorts, and it's a central hub for all things root and ROM on Android.

Most college kids are at home this time of the year, celebrating the end of finals and/or nursing hangovers. But the ROM's scene's number one destination is hosting classes all year round at the the new XDA University site. XDA-Developers has been working on the extension of the main site as a destination for newcomers to the world of root, custom ROMs, and other Android modifications, as well as a place to learn about more serious Android development. The site is live now at XDA-University.com.

What is XDA University? Well, it's somewhere between a textbook (the introductory page even describes itself as "this book") and a limited wiki.

Even though we reported yesterday that the Motorola Atrix would be receiving the option to unlock its bootloader, a group of dedicated developers on XDA have found a way to do, even on Froyo. The update involves flashing a specifically-coded SBF, and then running commands from the fastboot menu of the phone. If all goes well, you'll get the fabled "device is now unlocked" message, and you will be one step closer to killing that damned Motoblur.

However, there are some limitations. The phone has to either be running the AT&T or OLYFR version of the phone; certain versions, like the French or Bell Canada Atrix have been reported to have less than optimal results (an error which stops the process, but no reports of bricking).